A.Vogel and Po-Ho Oil

Even in the first issue of his magazine, Das Neue Leben (A Fresh Start) which appeared in March 1929 (later known as A.Vogel’s Gesundheits-Nachrichten), the young Alfred Vogel pointed out the advantages of Po-Ho oil. Here are a few extracts from his article:

“We wanted to reach a height of 2700 metres and there was a seemingly almost level, large expanse covered with 30cm of snow lying before us. Our skiers’ hearts began to beat faster at this sight because undisturbed powder snow is, for a skier, virgin ground. When we ventured into this, with gullies on three sides and no borders, a comfortable warmth surrounded us and to me it was like being hugged by the Sun. Our summit seemed so close now as though we could reach the top in quarter of an hour.

“However, we were not in that much of a hurry because although the summit was our goal, as you should and must have a goal, our ascent was not the only purpose of our trek. We wanted to ‘bathe’ in the mountain air and sun and so we made another stop at the foot of a very steep summit. As always, after such a trek, I was not hungry but I did have an extremely strong thirst because I had been sweating so much. To the astonishment of my colleagues who were already sitting down, I quickly began to undress, laid aside my damp underwear, dried myself off thoroughly and began to massage my entire body vigorously with skin oil.

“During my winter stay in the high mountains, I used to go into the nearby windless Alps almost every sunny day for several weeks with my skis, strip to my shorts, hang my clothes on a snow-free ledge or, if they were too high up, on the posts of an Alpine hut, and ski non-stop from about 10 in the morning till 3 in the afternoon.

“We must not forget that in the high mountains the sun’s rays are much warmer than in the lowlands so that, even in colder air, it is possible to sunbathe as the body soaks up the warmth of the sun in the same way as a dry sponge soaks up water. You must take care not to get too cold because this is not healthy. When you get undressed, there should be no wind. Moreover, you must never forget to rub in skin oil immediately (or virgin olive oil mixed with a few drops of eucalyptus, Po-Ho essential oils or pine needle oil).”